CNN Features UVM Research on the Geography of Happiness

Both CNN and The Atlantic highlight UVM complex systems research, led by professors Peter Dodds and Christopher Danforth, which analyzed 10 million geotagged tweets from 2011 to determine the happiest – and least happy – places in America. Using 10,000 words rated on a scale of one to ten according to how “happy” they are (LOL, good, nice, sleep, food- and beach-related words on the upper end, words such as mad, hate, smoke, jail and expletives in general ranking low), the team found Napa, California, to be the happiest place and Louisiana the least. Even ignoring context, with such large datasets, the researchers say, simply counting words produces reliable results that are consistent with other existing measures of happiness. Read the stories at CNN.com… and TheAtlantic.com…